This proposal is for continued support of the UMDNJ-Rutgers University Pipeline Program for assisting underrepresented minority (URM) students to enter careers in biomedical research. The central Goal 1 is to increase the number of URM students who obtain the Ph.D. degree in a field related to biomedical research, and who then pursue research careers. The principal activities are a residential summer research program for undergraduates ("RISE at Rutgers/UMDNJ") and the training of URM graduate students who have increased flexibility and enhanced support services in the Core Curriculum of the highly competitive Graduate Programs in the Molecular Biosciences, involving both UMDNJ and Rutgers. We will maintain and continue to refine these programs. We will also focus on attracting additional Rutgers URM undergraduates into the summer RISE program or summer research experiences at other institutions, and into the Academic Year Program that supports URM students performing research during the academic year. For Ph.D. students, our goals are to improve their performance, particularly through increased utilization of Peer Tutoring and Cognitive Skills assessments. We are also exploring additional approaches to curriculum flexibility to better match the diverse interests of our trainees. Goal 2 is to encourage and support URM medical students of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS) to become physician-scientists. We will continue to provide support for medical students to perform research during the academic year and summers. We will also enhance opportunities and the desirability of the M.D./Ph.D. program. The training of URM students for biomedical research careers, through the Ph.D., M.D., or M.D./Ph.D. paths, serves a national need for more and better scientists, in a more diverse biomedical research environment, while serving the strategic goals of our Universities for a more diverse student body and faculty. [unreadable] [unreadable]